Images can work wonders, and I see a lot of people overlooking that. First of all, I mentioned before why people should include images in every post, and one of the main reasons is because it’ll catch people’s attention and it can help bring in traffic. But have you ever found yourself visiting someone’s site or profile based on just their picture? Of course you have!
Let’s take all social networking sites for an example. If you see their avatar that has a picture of them on it, you’re probably more prone to click on their profile rather than someone that doesn’t, right? Because without that picture, you may think that profile is spam or never updated, and you wouldn’t want to waste that extra moment.
Me neither!
Also, I’m very confident that 99.9% of you guys have an account on MySpam, I mean, MySpace. Try putting a picture of yourself, or just a picture of a beautiful person. If you already have it as your main image, try doing the opposite. If you do the opposite, watch your visits from newcomers slowly decrease. Unless, of course, you already have 674,978 friends. Which I’m sure most of you guys do!
I mentioned a while back that attractive people are taking over the blogging world, and that’s not the only thing they’re taking over. Wait, I think I was supposed to add an example of something else they’re taking over… eh, I got nothing.
But I caught myself on Mybloglog the other day going through people’s profiles and noticed I wasn’t bothering with profiles without images because the handful of ones I did click on, they were never updated, never added any content, websites or anything! It was almost acting like a turn-off like there was nothing to grab my attention besides the name. And unless you have a display name like “Luckily you suck!” or something you don’t see often, I probably will just skip over you. And I’m sure I’m not the only one!
Another example; I recently joined Twitter and I was adding people that I knew from around the Blogosphere. Of course, most people never keep the same username for every single networking site, so luckily, you have avatars. And yes, I found a whole bunch of people just because I recognized their avatar from somewhere else.
In the very beginning of my Blogging life, I was told by numerous people to just put a picture of myself (as my avatar) to show I was a real person. Of course, I tried that for a day but decided that I didn’t want to scare people away! So, I did a mini-experiment with putting a hot girl as my avatar and so far I’ve done wonders around that. As you can see, I still have one for most, if not all, of my avatars.
The bad part of doing that is the fact that a few people thought I was a girl until they read my profile and it says “Name: Jason.” But most of those people (I think?) end up checking out my site and sticking around.
I mean, I can tell you that I’m not the only one who does this. For instance, Maki of Doshdosh almost always puts up images of anime women on his posts and look at how successful he has become. (And it’s from his content but the images!) Though, it’s funny, on his “About Me” page he does state “One last thing. In case you were fooled by the numerous beguiling pictures of cute anime girls on Dosh Dosh, I’m actually a guy and not a girl.”
In conclusion, I know putting a hot girl as my avatar may be misleading but it got you to my site, right? And most of you guys are beautiful anyways so you can just display a picture of yourself.
But hopefully when you do manage to make it to my site, you’re just not disappointed because when it comes down to it, it’s the content that makes you stay and continue to come back and not the hot women, right?
Well, hopefully that’s the case.
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The funny thing is so many search engine marketers have tunnel vision and don’t even understand the slightest about branding.
Hell yeah you need an avatar, something that is going to let people recognize you by.
You can make a billion posts, but if you don’t have some sort of identity, you might as well kiss your semi competitive ass goodbye or pray for some common sense before you make another post
Mike Searchfeature’s last blog post..Squidoo is the best social bookmarking site.
I agree. I think branding is just as important as SEO, maybe even more so (you’ll notice when you get successful branding – people type in your blog name to google).
And the second thing – I’m only commenting because of Angelina
Rhys’s last blog post..Twitter Me This
You think I would have clicked (and actualyl read almost half of the post) if it wasn’t for her
Mike Searchfeature’s last blog post..First Look at SearchMe Beta
You could be a guy and still look like that
Gender reassignment surgery.
Caren’s last blog post..Probability Part One
You could also be quiet and let me feel good instead of getting sick.
Mike Searchfeature’s last blog post..Follow You, Follow Me!
Yup that’s true. Usually I won’t explore those profiles that has no avatar.
Haney’s last blog post..I Want To Be Happy
So, your target group is men, Jay?
Tamera’s last blog post..Attitudes, and more attitudes
I think it sucks to be tricked
Besides… that picture doesn´t really rock my boat …
Mirjam’s last blog post..Are A-List Bloggers Really all that Great?
IMO a funny/interesting/quirky avatar will bring you a lot more repeat visitors than pictures of hot women ever would.
Sure, they’re nice to look at, but taking the term “sex sells” too far just cheapens your blog – that’s what I’ve found. If you use only pictures of hot women, and then people visit to see that your blog has nothing to do with hot women, they are going to leave.
I’m with ya, Jason. A certain percentage of the audience has taboos about sex and does not want to have stimulating images, however nice, repeatedly flashed in their face.
Luke’s last blog post..How Long Til We Can Regrow Limbs?
getting repat visotors is based on pictures however they do help the best is good content
thanks
Aaron Rivera’s last blog post..More Health Food products added to the site
don’t say “myspam” if you’re just going to say myspace. it’s like how rachel ray says “evoo…. extra virgin olive oil”. oh how redundant, how how annoying. Oh the pain of it all. OH!
that’s all.
Mike – I think I’m going to try to get a logo branded for me so people will know my site because I don’t think it stands out too much. But I’m not sure what to go with.
Rhys – lol Angelina will do that to you. Oh, one of these days I’m going to take a picture WITH a hot girl and you guys are gonna be like “ewwww… take that loser out the pic!” lol
Caren – If I could look like Angelina… well, first, I would lose my manhood but also, man, life would become a LOT easier lol!
Hani – Luckily we all recognize you by your avatar!
Tamera – lol! No, my target group is whoever wants to learn and let me help them… the hot chicks pics are just for me lol. Fine, fine, I’ll post them less!
Mirjam – I don’t like to be tricked either. But fine, I’ll put less hot women pictures lol
Jason – I think I might try out the crazy pics, I mean, I have already but damn, I have gotten a lot of publicity from the hot women. But hey, where’d you get your cartoon from? I’m thinking about getting something done.
Luke – Yes, yes, I agree. Less hot women pictures…
Aaron – Well, hopefully you like the content of this blog!
Mazui – LOL! Hey, there are people who still don’t realize the MySpam titling so I figured I’d toss it out there lol!
Jay
*holding hands up* You got me! I’m soooo guilty of the lure. The hook and bait, LOL!! But that’s me, Jay
Lisa C’s last blog post..Memory Lane Monday….03-31-2008
Jay, great thinking. Let me know if you need help, I have an excellent logo designer on staff!
~ Mike
Mike Searchfeature’s last blog post..Search Featured: Danny Sullivan
I think when I first started reading you, I was a tad sad that you were not a woman because I wanted to find more women bloggers that were making money off their sites. But, now that I know you- as you really are, I read cause I like what you write.
As for hot guys? I love to view a hot man, so yeah- the dirty girl in me always clicks on the avatars with the hot men..heehee.
Simple Mindz’s last blog post..Fitness challenge -Weeks 6 & 7
This image business can go too far, too. Still nothing like raw, red meat content (copy only) to whet the appetite.
Jack Payne’s last blog post..Legal Con Man Tactics Used in Flood of Frivolous Law Suits
You can post pics of Angelina anytime you want!! And yes I am a female but I am a huge Angelina Jolie fan…as a matter of fact she is on my desktop right now. But yeah an attractive image will bring people to your site but it’s the content that keeps them there.
@ Jay… guy called Melencio, charges $125 for it all. Hit me on MSN if you want his details
Jason’s last blog post..What Would You Like To See In A Blogging Magazine?
Lisa – But you can lure and bait me all you want
Mike – Hit me up on my contact form and we can discuss it further.
T (Simplemindz)- LOL! Well, I’m sorry that I couldn’t be the woman you wanted me to be! lol! Well, I could shave my facial hair, would that help? Oh, and see! Hot guys lure you!
Jack – yummy! meat…
Roxxy – I’m glad you like Angelina… and yes, she’s hot! And when that new movie of hers comes out, she’s just sooooo sexy when she’s bad… omg!
Jason – Um, I never had your msn man… only had your yahoo…
Jay
Jay’s last blog post..No Avatar, No Visitors?
of course I would be lured by a hot guy! I love hot guys! I never get to see any around here where I live.
Simple Mindz’s last blog post..Fitness challenge -Weeks 6 & 7
Btw, Where the f… is your April Fool’s Joke? Hehe.
Jason’s last blog post..TUK Enters Into A Sponsorship Deal With Fruitful Time
Great info here
Will get a picture of my cat – need teh avatar asap!
Valeriideas’s last blog post..Are mobile phones bad for navigation?
I wondered why you had a picture of a woman as your avatar cause I know your a guy. Now I know.
Carol’s Internet Marketing Blog
Ladyhawkcj’s last blog post..INCREASE YOUR BACKLINKS – QASSIA
images in the blogs adds beauty and so use them as much as possible without distracting the main content.
Gravatar us a great service and free, so why not use them.
Fitness Site’s last blog post..Watch Health videos
T (simplemindz) – Wow… that’s messed up! I live close enough to you
But yeah, I’m not a hot guy lol…
Jason – LOL! I was too lazy to do one so I figured I’d just add to yours lol!
Aaron – Are you copying and pasting your comments? lol
Valeriideas – What cat picture?
Ladyhawkcj – Well, Jason suggested to have funny pictures, so on my latest post, I put a eye-catching funny picture.
Fitness – What’s gravatar? And yes, images should lure your readers in, then the content makes them stay!
Jay
Jay’s last blog post..Would You Sell a Permanent Ad on your Blog for $1,000?
Excellent post and a very overlooked issue. Just like everything in this world, presentation counts and your avatar can make a huge impression on the reader. Picking the right one requires time and effort in just the same way a company spends time designing a logo.
yes that is true , picture worth 1000 words even if it’s as small dimension as avatar
ameo’s last blog post..Craziest Conest Ever
Avatars have proven to be incredibly important to young readers, as well as those who have been online for any real amount of time. The images help create our online identity and it quickly becomes the image that people immediately recognize as being ours.
How often do we go to sites and MyBlogLog avatars or Gravatars for all the people that have recently come or left a message? Just a quick glance can tell us if other people we know (or know of) are visiting these sites.
That said, where are the avatars in your comments?
????? (Jason)’s last blog post..MySQL Query Browser and Hosted Databases
Thats a really good point. It seems obvious, but I am sure many people overlooked this..